William archie smith



WILLIAM ARCHIE SMITH, OF ODYMI'IA, WASHINGTON.

BELT.

A, a specification of Letters Patent.

PatentedOct- 7, 1

Applloation filed August -31,,1HI8. Serial No. 252,161.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I WILLIAM Anonm SMITH, a citizen of the finited States, and a resident of Olympia, in the county of Thurston and State of Washington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Belts, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improvement in belts, and has. for its object to provide a belt adapted for army, navy and civilian dress or money belt attachment, wherein a new and improved form of clasp is provided for connecting the ends of the belt, or for connectin bandoliers to the belt body the said clasp I sing made in such manner that there are no points or exposed ends to catch in the clothing or to chafe, and wherein the belt is lengthened and shortened from the inside, so that there is no long loose end outside.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the im' proved belt;

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows adjacent to the line;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the clasp.

In the present embodiment of the invention, a mllitar belt is shown, adapted for the Arm or a the belt consisting of a body 1 ormed of suitable material, as, for instance, leather, and the ends of the belt are joined by the clasp shown more particularly in Fig. 3.

This clasp, as shown, is formed from a single piece of wire, of suitable gage, bent into substantially H-shape, consisting of two similar side members 2, and a cross member composed of spaced parallel bars 3 and 4.

The ends of the side members 2 are curved over upon the body of the said members, as indicated at 5, to form hooks, and these hooks have blunt bills, as shown, so that there is nothing? catch upon the clothing or to chafe the dy.

In the present instance the blunt bills of the hooks on the members 2 are formed by bending the ends of the wire back upon the body, and the hooks of the members 2 are doubled portions of the wire.

In forming the improved clasp one of the cross member sections, 3 in the present instance, is the central portion of the wire. The wire is then bent at ri ht angles from the member 3 and doubled Eack upon itself and bent again toward the cross member 3 to form the side members 2. The ends of the wire are then bent at right angles and connected, forming the side member 2, and the clasp is completed after the hooks 5 are bent.

The improved clasp is engaged with the ends of the belt body in the manner shown in Fig. 2. One end of the belt body has pairs of slits 6 and '7 spaced apart from each other and in substantial alinement. Those hooks 5 which are oil-set are engaged with that portion 8 of the belt body which is between the members of the pairs 6 and 7 in the manner shown in Fig. 2, the body of the side members 1 and 2 being passed throu h the slit 7 and hooked over the cross ar 8 through the slit 6. The other end of the belt has slits 9 which are adapted to be engaged by the hooks 5 at the adjacent end of the clasp, and the extremity of the said end is passed between the sections 3 and 4 of the cross bar of the H-shaped clasp.

In order to connect bandoliers 10 with the belt body, the same form of clasp indicated generally at 11 is used, the said clasp being slightly smaller than that shown connecting the ends of the belt. In order to sup ort and connect the central portion of the andolier atthe rear of the belt body a similar clasp, indicated at 12, is utilized. The bills of all of the hooks are outside of the belt, so that there are no points to come into contact with the body of the wearer or to catch in the garments.

It will be noticed that it is the inner end of the belt which has a series of openings for engagement by the clasp. Thus the appearance of the outer face of the belt is always the same, the adjustment in size being made by disengaging the inner end and engaging it with a new opening.

I claim:

1. A clasp for connecting belt ends, of substantially H-shape, comprlsin side members and a cross member connecting the side members intermediate their ends, the side members having hooks at their ends for engaging the belt ends and the cross member consisting of spaced portions for reeeivin the end of the belt between the same, sai spacing of the portions being in a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of the clasp for the purpose specified.

2. A clasp for eonnectin belt ends, of substantially H-shape,c0mpr1sing side members and a cross member connecting the side members intermediate their ends, the side members having hooks at their ends for en- 10 gagin the belt ends and the cross member consis ing of spaced portions for receiving the end of the belt between the same.

WILLIAM ARCHIE SMITH.

Witnesses:

CATHARINE S. STEPHENS, NELL F. SMITH.

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